Automatic pinsetter with drive modifying means



Jan. 31,1967 A. P. ROGERS 3,301,557

AUTOMATIC PINSETTER WITH DRIVE MODIFYING MEANS Filed Dec. 31, 1963 I N VEN TOR. await 1 3084 BY Ewan, 4%,, 6 2% UnitedS'tates Patent 3,301,557 AUTOMATIC PINSETTER WITH DRIVE MODIFYING MEANS Albert P. Rogers, Spring Lake, Mich., assignor to Brunswick Corporation, a corporation of Delaware Filed Dec. 31, 1963, Ser. No. 334,733

3 Claims. (Cl. 273 42) This invention relates to automatic pinsetters and more particularly to a pinsetter deck raising and lowering mechanism which provides proper pinsetting motion with high speed movement of the deck.

' It is desirable in an automatic pinsetter to provide for movement of the pinsetter deck toward and away from the lane pin area in a cyclic motion. It is further desirable to move the deck as rapidly as possible for minimum cycle time but to,,eliminate sudden shock at the uppermost, and lowermost parts of the movement. Also a short time with as little movement as possible near the lowermost deck position is desirable to permit the setting of pins'so that pin wobble or movement will be reduced to a minimum. i i

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved automatic pinsetter having a new and improved pinsetter deck raising and lowering mechanism which may beutilized in presently constructed automatic pinsetters without radically changing the operation or structure of said pinsetter.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an automatic pinsetter having a new and improved linkage for moving the pinsetter deck in a cyclic motion toward and away from the lanepin area, which linkage substantially eliminates any sudden shock at the uppermost and lowermost positions of the pinsetter deck.

A further object of the present invention is to provide the linkage as described in the object above wherein the deck has a higher rate of ascent and descent than heretofore known with crank-type drive mechanismsbut as slow a rate of movement during pinsetting operation to provide an over all faster cycle time.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide an automatic pinsetter having a new and improved pinsetter deck actuating linkage mechanism including a two-part connecting member between a drive means and the pinsetter deck, which member has the length thereof positively controlled during portions of the pinsetter deck cycle to permit a predetermined pinsetter deck path of movement.

Other objects and advantages will become readily apparent from the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of the linkage in its environment with a pinsetter including a crank drive and pinsetter deck wherein the pinsetter deck is in raised position;

FIG. 2 is an elevational view similar to FIG. 1 wherein the pinsetter deck is in lowered position and with part broken away; and

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken in the direction of the arrows at about line 33 of FIG. 1.

While an illustrative embodiment of the invention is shown in the drawings and will be described in detail herein, the invention is susceptible of embodiment in many different forms and it should be understood that the present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the invention to the embodiment illustrated. The scope of the invention will be pointed out in the appended claims.

The'mechanism disclosed and claimed herein may be used with many different forms of automatic pinsetters,

3,301,557 Patented Jan. 31, 1967 but is herein described in association with an automatic pinsetter of the type shown in Huck Patent No. 2,949,300.

A pinsetter gear box 10 which furnishes power to drive shaft 11, and a shaft supporting bearing 12 are shown in FIG. 3. The shaft 11 corresponds to shaft 173 of the Huck patent and this shaft will be used as a starting point for the power supply of the present invention.

The rotation of drive shaft 11 is utilized for controlling the position of a pinsetter deck shown in outline at 14 (FIG. 1) which is supported at opposite sides thereof by a pair of arms 15, one of which is shown in FIG. 1, which are fixed to a rotatably mounted shaft 16 supported by the frame (not shown) of the pinsetter. The deck is connected to the pair of arms 15 by a pair of vertical posts 17, one of which is shown in FIG. 1.

In each cycle of the pinsetter deck, the deck, starting from a raised position, descends toward the bed of the bowling lane and then returns to an upper position, with these movements again being repeated in the same cycle. For this purpose, the drive shaft 11 rotates through two complete revolutions in each cycle of operation of the pinsetter.

The second descent of the deck 14 in a cycle is a longer stroke than the first descent and is provided by linkage between the deck 14 and the drive shaft 11 which embodies the invention. This linkage includes a two-part member having an upper part 20 and a lower part 21 which are pivotally joined together as at the knuckle joint indicated generally at 22. The joint 22 comprises a member 23 which is threadably attached to link 21 as at 24 to provide a threaded adjustment of the link 21. Also included in the knuckle joint 22 is a cam follower 25 which selectively travels in a cam slot 26 and a pin portion 25:: on which member 23 pivots. The cam slot is fixed to the pinsetter frame and will be described in detail hereinafter. The lower link 21 includes a slot 27 for movably receiving a pin 28 connected to an arm 29 fixed to the shaft 16 which rotatably supports the deck 14. The upper link 20 is pivotally attached to a cam disc 30 (303 in Huck) by pin 31 which corresponds to member 302 in the Huck patent. The drive link is guided for substantially straight-line movement by the slot 27 associated with the pin 28 and by the weight of the pinsetter deck which tends to keep links 20 and 21 fully extended. I

The cam slot 26 is formed in a box cam 26' attached to the pinsetter frame (not shown), which box cam has an entrance end 26a, a substantially straight portion 26b transverse to the generally straight-line path of movement of the drive link, and an exit portion 26c. The drive link is moved by the drive shaft 11 since drive disc 30 is connected to both shaft 11 and link supporting pin 31. a

With the parts asshown in FIG. 1 and the deck in its uppermost position, rotation of the drive shaft 11 will result in revolving the pin 31 about the axis'of drive shaft 11 which will result in rapid downward movement of the deck 14 until the deck approaches its lower position. At this time the cam follower 25 will enter the cam track 26 at 26a. This action then allows shaft 31 to continue in its circular path of movement about its axis, shaft 11 (as shown in FIG. 2). However, the cam follower 25 guides the upper end of slotted link 21 thereby producing substantially little vertical travel at the lower end of link 21 which supports pin 28. This results in a controlled movement of the pinsetter deck 14 which is much slower near its lowermost position than during the major part of its travel. As the shaft 31 moves further in its revolving path the cam follower 25 is moved along cam track 26 can of course be of any shape to produce the pinrapidly ascends. The position of the parts, as the deck is Q at its lowermost position, is shown in FIG. 2. The cam track 26 can of course be of any shape to produce the pinsetter deck movement desired. It is, however, contemplated in the present invention that pinsetter deck move ment will be limited from about 45 before bottom dead center to about 45 after bottom dead center to resemble present pinsetter deck setting actions. It is at these points that the major part of the pinsetter deck travel ceases on the downward stroke and begins on the upward stroke.

Although forming no part of this invention, additional linkage is shown in the drawings relative to obtaining a short stroke of the deck 14. This mechanism includes a hook 4t) fitted about the drive disc 30 to have a stroke less than that of the main drive link. The hook 40 is controlled in its position by linkage including the parts 305, 310 and 317, which correspond to and have been given the same numbers as parts in the Huck patent. This mechanism additionally includes a hook control c am 312 which functions similarly to that of the same cam in the Huck patent.

In operation, the deck normally is Weighted to descend as permitted by the mechanism. When the long stroke of the deck is to occur, the short stroke hook 40 is held in inoperative position wherein it cannot engage the pin 28 positioned within the slot 27, as shown in FIG. 2. As the drive shaft 11 rotates, the pin 28 is at the bottom of the slot 27, so that the deck can descend the same distance as the drive link moves. The descent is rapid, until such time as the cam follower 25 moves along that part of its path formed by 26b of the cam track 26, at which time the descent of the deck is at a much lesser rate with the change in speed being accomplished without shock. After the deck has set pins on the lane bed, the deck will again rapidly ascend as the cam follower 25 moves from the exit portion 26c of the cam track 26. At this time pin 31 is continuing in its circular path of movement about its axis, shaft 11, and the weight of the pinsetter deck 14 causes links 20 and 21 to assume a substantially straight-line position.

With the foregoing structure, it is possible to simply modify existing pinsetters to substantially shorten the over all time required for movement of the pinsetting deck through its ascent and descent, but still providing the same amount of time and rate of movement of the deck near its lowermost position for setting pins to prevent pin wobble and the possibility of falling pins.

I claim:

1. In an automatic pinsetter, a pinsetting deck movable toward and away from the bed of a bowling lane, drive means for moving said deck through a cycle. of movement including rapid descent and ascent of the deck with a lesser rate of travel near the bottom of the stroke to provide a smooth, relatively slow movement as pins are set by the deck, including a revolving drive member and a linkage connecting said drive member to said deck, said linkage comprising: a plurality of pivotally interconnected links guided for substantially straight-line movement, with said movement resulting in corresponding movement of the pinsetting deck, a follower on said plurality of links at the pivot connection, and a box cam having entry and exit ends for directing said follower, said entry end lying in the revolving path of said drive member; whereby movement of said drive member in its revolving path and movement of the deck causes the follower to enter said entry end and continued movement of the drive member generally parallel to said box cam results in said slow movement of the pinsetting deck and at other times results in the rapid ascent and descent of the deck.

2. In an automatic pinsetter, a pinsetting deck movable toward and away from the bed of a bowling lane, drive means for moving said deck through a cycle of movement including rapid descent and ascent of the deck with a lesser rate of travel near the bottom of the stroke to provide -a smooth, relatively slow movement as pins are set by the deck including a revolving drive member, and pivotally interconnected linkage connecting said drive member to said deck guided for substantially straightline movement with said movement resulting in corresponding movement of the pinsetting deck, said linkage including an element at the pivot connection, and guide means for movably guiding said element extending transversely to said path of generally straight-line movement engaging said element whereby movement of said member in its revolving path generally parallel to said guide means results in movement of said element along the guide means transverse to said straight-line movement for said slow movement of the pinsetting deck and at other times the rapid ascent and descent of the deck when the element is free of the guide means.

3. In an automatic pinsetter, a pinsetting deck movable toward and away from the bed of a bowling lane, drive means for moving said deck through a cycle of movement including rapid descent and ascent of the deck with a lesser rate of travel near the bottom of the stroke to provide a smooth, relatively slow movement as pins are set by the deck, including a revolving drive member rotatable about an axis, and linkage connecting said drive member to said deck, said linkage including an element operatively connected to said drive member and movable to and fro during unmodified movement for transmitting movement of the drive member to said deck, and means for modifying the continuing movement of said element from a direct response to the revolving movement of the drive member in during approximately the lower one-half revolution of the revolving drive member to obtain setting movement of the deck, including a slotted member extending generally tr-anserse to the unmodified path of movement of said element with ends of said slot terminating at locations remote from each other with at least one of the slot ends lying in the path of the element as moved in direct response to the revolving movement of the drive member, whereby said element moves along said transversely extending slotted member as the drive member revolves.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 887,276 5/1908 Selley 74602 1,820,798 8/1931 Hawkins. 2,949,300 8/1960 Huck et al. 273-43 3,014,720 12/1961 Barrows 27342 3,199,869 8/1965 G autraud et al. 27342 RICHARD C. PINKHAM, Primary Examiner.

ANTON O. OECHSLE, DELBERT B. LOWE,

Examiners. 

3. IN AN AUTOMATIC PINSETTER, A PINSETTING DECK MOVABLE TOWARD AND AWAY FROM THE BED OF A BOWLING LANE, DRIVE MEANS FOR MOVING SAID DECK THROUGH A CYCLE OF MOVEMENT INCLUDING RAPID DESCENT AND ASCENT OF THE DECK WITH A LESSER RATE OF TRAVEL NEAR THE BOTTOM OF THE STROKE TO PROVIDE A SMOOTH, RELATIVELY SLOW MOVEMENT AS PINS ARE SET BY THE DECK, INCLUDING A REVOLVING DRIVE MEMBER ROTATABLE ABOUT AN AXIS, AND LINKAGE CONNECTING SAID DRIVE MEMBER TO SAID DECK, SAID LINKAGE INCLUDING AN ELEMENT OPERATIVELY CONNECTED TO SAID DRIVE MEMBER AND MOVABLE TO AND FRO DURING UNMODIFIED MOVEMENT FOR TRANSMITTING MOVEMENT OF THE DRIVE MEMBER TO SAID DECK, AND MEANS FOR MODIFYING THE CONTINUING MOVEMENT OF SAID ELEMENT FROM A DIRECT RESPONSE TO THE REVOLVING MOVEMENT OF THE DRIVE MEMBER IN DURING APPROXIMATELY THE LOWER ONE-HALF REVOLUTION OF THE REVOLVING DRIVE MEMBER TO OBTAIN SETTING MOVEMENT OF THE DECK, INCLUDING A SLOTTED MEMBER EXTENDING GENERALLY TRANSERSE TO THE UNMODIFIED PATH OF MOVEMENT OF SAID ELEMENT WITH ENDS OF SAID SLOT TERMINATING AT LOCATIONS REMOTE FROM EACH OTHER WITH AT LEAST ONE OF THE SLOT ENDS LYING IN THE PATH OF THE ELEMENT AS MOVED IN DIRECT RESPONSE TO THE REVOLVING MOVEMENT OF THE DRIVE MEMBER, WHEREBY SAID ELEMENT MOVES ALONG SAID TRANSVERSELY EXTENDING SLOTTED MEMBER AS THE DRIVE MEMBER REVOLVES. 